Chapter 2223: More Information. [The stage is set. The pieces will move again. May the Universe guide the worthy.] As those words echoed throughout the space, a long, deafening silence followed. For a good while, no one spoke until finally— "Now this looks interesting." Astaria commented with an amused grin, her eyes reflecting a strong fighting spirit. She too wanted to participate in this game. And it wasn’t just her— "Indeed." Her master and sister, Vyriana, had the same look on her face. "They called everyone to the party. I am offended that I wasn’t called." The Dragon pouted and then— "You talk as if you were out there hunting the Supreme Borns. They probably don’t even know someone like you exists." Edda snickered, making the Dragon’s mouth twitch, but at the end of the day, there was nothing she could say against those words. She had started to feel it as well. As time had passed, she... she had become... irrelevant. She was once a Sovereign, a being who Nux relied upon, a being who was a major part of Nux’s life, and while she knew Nux would one day surpass her, she always believed that even then—she would remain relevant. She would remain someone Nux knew he could rely on, and for a good while, she did maintain that position. She was one of the first Transcendents amongst her sisters, and just a few centuries ago, she could still keep up with Nux and spar with him to a somewhat equal level. But now...? Now it had all changed. Nux had gone... beyond what she could handle. Let alone spar with him at a decent level—even if she used all her might—she... she wasn’t even strong enough to make him lift his finger in response. The difference between them was now... too vast for her to even think about someday reducing it. But... That wasn’t even the worst part. Even before, Vyriana knew that if Nux faced her seriously using all the strength he had, she was nowhere close to defeating him, but that still didn’t stop her because he still relied upon her. There were still things he needed her to do, worlds he wanted her to destroy, beings he wanted her to defeat. But now... Now things were different. Now, Nux had his own immortal army, and that army had... Eternals. Yes, Eternal-level beings now served Nux, and while this had helped him quite a bit... for Vyriana... It felt... overwhelming. She felt... useless. Whatever she could do, those Eternals could do better—far more efficiently. These Eternals had nothing to fear. Nux had altered their minds in a way that pointless emotions like fear, anger, pride—all emotions that could slow a being down and stop him from moving efficiently—no longer existed. It wouldn’t be wrong to call these beings puppets, puppets who existed solely to fulfil Nux’s orders. And all this... This made her helpless. The worst part? Nux had no fear when it came to losing these puppets. He had been experimenting with this for centuries now and finally, after his Universe was complete, it was done. Vyriana—or any of Nux’s wives—shared a connection with him, a connection that was supported by Lane’s Law. This connection allowed Nux or his wives to be reborn in case of some mishap. Basically, Nux, through his connection to his wives, could be reborn near any of them, and his wives, through their connection, could be reborn near Nux. And while this connection was quite beneficial, it came with its own... disadvantages. This connected all their lives, meaning that a being strong enough to sense and interact with this connection had a slight chance of being able to kill Nux and all his wives just by getting their hands on even one of them. Of course, Nux himself was a Universe—which is considered quite a ’heavy’ entity—so being able to influence his or even his wife’s life just by interacting with this connection was... difficult. It required... power. An almost... unlimited amount of power. Something only... an Infinity might have access to. Before, Nux didn’t quite care, after all, he knew an Infinity wasn’t going to make a move anytime soon. But later, as he began to challenge Infinities himself, directly calling them out in the open, provoking them in front of the entire Universe— That began to change. Now that the chances of an Infinity attacking them were considerably higher... This connection, which he had also shared with his subordinates, turning them into immortals, had become... less of a benefit and more of a sword hanging near their throats. This was also the reason that back then, Nux removed all his subordinates from this connection network. But even then, he hadn’t given up. Even before removing his subordinates from the connection, he was already thinking of a way around it. A way through which he could keep the benefits and... lose the downsides. And once his Universe was complete, he finally found a way. Souls. After completing his Universe and gaining an even better control over it, Nux... learned something new. He learned about Souls. He learned how to... interact with them in a much better way than what he knew before. Before, he only used souls for torture, since a being’s soul feels multiple times more pain than his body, but... that was the crudest use one could possibly think of for something so... precious. The soul was... immortal. It didn’t matter if it was the soul of a mortal, a cultivator, or even a mindless beast—all these souls—unless something unexpected happened—were... immortal. The souls did not die; they simply returned to the Universe to be reborn again. And Nux... After becoming a Complete Universe, he too could access a soul that was a part of his Universe, like other normal Universes could. Yes, Nux too now held the power to reincarnate a being from his Universe. As for how he used this power— Whether he reincarnated the said soul in another world, giving it a new, different life as a mindless beast, or an intelligent being, or even an inanimate living entity— Or... he reincarnated—or in this case—revived the said soul into the same being it once was, without erasing its ’memories’... It was all in Nux’s hands. So yes, now, after completing his Universe, Nux no longer needed Lane’s Law for his subordinates. Of course, this did not mean Lane’s Law was useless; he still needed it to revive their ’bodies’, but since the ’soul’ was no longer part of the deal, the connection was no longer between Nux’s soul and his subordinate’s soul. It was between... Nux’s body and his subordinate’s body. And... no matter how strong the enemy who captured his subordinate was... killing Nux’s body, which had been reinforced with tens of High-Level Worlds, was... difficult even for an Infinity. And even then— If they somehow managed to hurt or even destroy Nux’s body through their connection, he would simply... Revive again. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞 Yes, Nux could now use his subordinates without a tinge of fear or worry in his head. Even if all the Infinities captured his subordinates, it wouldn’t make a difference to him, since they wouldn’t find anything. Heck, they couldn’t even trace that connection back and forcefully enter his Universe, because that too wasn’t possible unless he created an opening himself. This was also the reason that even after challenging the Infinities, he was letting his subordinates roam throughout the Main Universe without any worries about the Infinities acting. No, he wanted the Infinities to act. He wanted to see the extent of their powers so he could come up with plans of his own. "We need to get stronger." As Vyriana was thinking all this, suddenly, Amaya commented. The devourer, just like the Dragon, was facing the same helplessness. She knew Nux. She knew that now that he had that immortal army, he wouldn’t let any of them leave the Universe, and while she loved his protective nature, being unable to offer him any help at all was... eating her from the inside. "As if that would change anything." But Felberta shook her head, and once the women turned towards her, the first wife chuckled softly, "The Infinities have challenged us openly. We are facing the strongest enemies in the Universe, enemies we and Nux know nothing about. No matter how strong we become, he will never let us leave. Forget about it." Amaya wanted to counter her words but... there was nothing she could say. "She is right." Riona nodded as well. She then glanced at her daughter and— "Instead of thinking about leaving, it would be better to think of a way to help Nux deal with the Infinities, To gather... more information." "How do we do that?" Rune asked. Even Nux, with all his means, couldn’t gather any information regarding the Infinities till now; how were they supposed to do it? But then suddenly— "What if..." Another voice was heard. "I call Father?" The Vampire spoke.